Pre-design Services in Project Management

Study Notes

Pre-design services can vary greatly depending on the complexity of a project and the experience of the owner.
Programming includes establishing and documenting detailed requirements for the project related to but not limited to; design objectives, development of space requirements, relationships between spaces, flexibility and expandability, special equipment and systems, and site requirements.
Budget analysis should have estimated costs for both the hard costs and soft costs involved in the project. Hard costs are construction related costs including material, labor, and the contractor’s overhead and profit. Soft costs are non-construction related costs including the designer’s fee and expenses, consultants’ fees and expenses, city fees, bank fees and interest, and insurance.
Schedule development includes assessing if the budget is adequate to complete the project given project type and quality.
Space schematics may include diagrammatic studies and descriptive text, conversion of programmed requirements into net area requirements, general space allocations, adjacency, special equipment, and flexibility and expandability.
Existing facilities surveys are often required for projects that are remodels or additions to existing structures. These surveys record what is built.
Site analysis and selection is often needed for projects that the client already own a site for or would like professional assistance in finding one. The designer analyzes a projects site to determine what makes it valuable, what are its opportunities, and what about it is negative and needs to be properly dealt with.
ests performed to determine the strength, compressibility and other characteristics of the soil conditions of a site. This type of report is more frequently required in hillside or coastal areas